bid retraction scam?

I was outbid last night 7 times by a proxy bid. When i reached my max i searched for a similar item on ebay which i am now 'watching' - Ebay sent me a message this norning saying the bidder had retracted his bid ( says they "entered wrong amount" ) & i was now highest bidder. I noticed that this bidder has had 44 bid retractions in last 30 days & 201 in last 6 months. ( I have had to retract my own highest bid & replace it with a .99p bid) I am wondering if this person is also a 'Seller' & is using the bid retractions to bump up the auction price? I can't seem to be able to report this to Ebay directly. 201 bid retractions seems extremely suspect??

Answered

Have a look at the seller's other items for sale and see if there's a bid pattern. If so, use the report link on the listing page>listing practices>fraudulent>using other accounts>submit.

It could just have been someone trying to out your max bid (quite common) but if so then the seller should have reported the invalid bid retraction and blocked them from bidding on their other auctions.

I did check to see if there was any pattern. As there is only a feedback of 6 - there was not much to go on except 1 previous auction that had been retracted and the buyer on this auction is no longer a member.

( Just to clarify) His was the first bid. Apparently he placed a bid of £22 so I was bidding against the proxy bids each time & getting outbid. After the 7th 'outbid' I stopped.

I would have thought that with so many Bid retractions - 201 in 6 months - it would have flagged some warning with Ebay!!

Answered

lol ..this happened to moi the other day ,,,i got a second chance offer and i refused it.

My latest escape i was bidding on three coats ..then i suspected they were one in the same , addresses slightly different.

So i retracted the bid on the coat that i knew was being upped and ...... HEY PRESTO I HAVE BEEN BLOCKED FROM BIDDING ON THE OTHER TWO COATS. !!! SO yes i may have a retract on my record , but it was GOOD TO BE PROVED RIGHT. THEY ARE A BUSINESS SELLER OR THEY AREN'T SIMPLES, AND THAT GOES FOR BUYERS TOO.

MOST ARE HONEST HERE , THERE ARE A FEW BAD APPLES JUST ROOT THEM OUT! It is easy to do after a while and good luck.

djspirit04 wrote:

I was outbid last night 7 times by a proxy bid. When i reached my max i searched for a similar item on ebay which i am now 'watching' - Ebay sent me a message this norning saying the bidder had retracted his bid ( says they "entered wrong amount" ) & i was now highest bidder. I noticed that this bidder has had 44 bid retractions in last 30 days & 201 in last 6 months. ( I have had to retract my own highest bid & replace it with a .99p bid) I am wondering if this person is also a 'Seller' & is using the bid retractions to bump up the auction price? I can't seem to be able to report this to Ebay directly. 201 bid retractions seems extremely suspect??